Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Three recent homicides solved

Charges have been filed in two killings from this past weekend, and one from the previous week.

Last week, we reported the slaying of Earthy Huff Jr., found shot near 36th and Garfield. Jerrim L. Johnson, 18, has been charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in that case. The Kansas City Star has more about that case on their web site.

At about 1 a.m. Jan. 22, police found 43-year-old Ephrem Merrit-Esquivel dead in an alley in the 6200 block of E. 11th St. Oscar Cerna, 46, has now been charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in that case. Here's the Star story on those charges.

Three hours later on Jan. 22, at about 4 a.m., 29-year-old Andre Steele was dropped off by someone at Research Medical Center with gunshot wounds, from which he died a short time later. Latasha Hutchinson, 27, has now been charged with involuntary manslaughter in this case, which you can read more about here.